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By Saqib Iqbal Ahmed
NEW YORK, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Speculators trimmed their
bearish bets on the U.S. dollar in the latest week to the
smallest position in 15 weeks, according to calculations by
Reuters and Commodity Futures Trading Commission data released
on Friday.
The value of the dollar's net short position, derived from
net positions of International Monetary Market speculators in
the yen, euro, British pound, Swiss franc and Canadian and
Australian dollars, was $3.37 billion, in the week to Oct. 31.
That compares with a net short position of $8.02 billion the
previous week and marks the 16th straight week that speculators
have had a net short position on the greenback.
To be short a currency means traders believe it will fall in
value.
In a wider measure of dollar positioning that
includes net contracts on the New Zealand dollar, Mexican peso,
Brazilian real and Russian ruble, the U.S. dollar posted a net
short position valued at $5.61 billion, down from $10.72 billion
a week earlier.
Generally upbeat U.S. economic data in the wake of the
recent hurricanes and an increase in market expectations for
higher interest rates have helped support the dollar in recent
weeks, said Karl Schamotta, director of global product and
market strategy at Cambridge Global Payments in Toronto.
The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against
six major currencies, rose 1.6 percent in October, its best
monthly performance since February.
"The dollar is rising on expectations that tax reform will
move ahead in some form," Schamotta said.
"It's certainly unlikely to move ahead in the form that was
proposed yesterday, but the markets are looking for increased
largesse there and a high level of economic activity as those
changes take root."
Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives unveiled a
tax bill on Thursday that would cost $1.51 trillion and deliver
deep tax cuts as promised by President Donald Trump, setting off
a race in Congress to give him his first major legislative win.
Congressional passage of the legislation, which would affect
nearly every U.S. company and family, was far from certain,
however, and some business groups quickly came out against it
and Democrats swiftly condemned it as a giveaway to the rich.
Meanwhile, the net short position in the yen rose to 118,869
contracts, the largest since late July. The Japanese currency
has been hampered by persistently low inflation.
Japanese Yen (Contracts of 12,500,000 yen)
$13.077 billion
Oct. 31, 2017 Prior week
week
Long 54,585 60,077
Short 173,454 176,934
Net -118,869 -116,857
EURO (Contracts of 125,000 euros)
$-10.494 billion
Oct. 31, 2017 Prior week
week
Long 173,670 183,539
Short 101,573 100,035
Net 72,097 83,504
POUND STERLING (Contracts of 62,500 pounds sterling)
$-0.103 billion
Oct. 31, 2017 Prior week
week
Long 65,482 66,162
Short 64,237 67,647
Net 1,245 -1,485
SWISS FRANC (Contracts of 125,000 Swiss francs)
$2.59 billion
Oct. 31, 2017 Prior week
week
Long 21,001 22,539
Short 41,672 34,136
Net -20,671 -11,597
CANADIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Canadian dollars)
$-4.489 billion
Oct. 31, 2017 Prior week
week
Long 84,309 96,561
Short 26,470 24,229
Net 57,839 72,332
AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Aussie dollars)
$-3.951 billion
Oct. 31, 2017 Prior week
week
Long 85,422 85,819
Short 33,814 28,569
Net 51,608 57,250
MEXICAN PESO (Contracts of 500,000 pesos)
$-1.443 billion
Oct. 31, 2017 Prior week
week
Long 87,220 87,536
Short 31,974 31,835
Net 55,246 55,701
NEW ZEALAND DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 New Zealand dollars)
$0.391 billion
Oct. 31, 2017 Prior week
week
Long 21,763 20,549
Short 27,470 19,938
Net -5,707 611
(Reporting by Saqib Iqbal Ahmed; Editing by Sandra Maler and
Chizu Nomiyama)